Gondolas 101
by R0cky-chan
Summary: Ever wonder how Matthew, Karis, and Tyrell managed on the first part of their journey? Here's one rendition sure to amuse. No pairings...yet...
1. The Suggested Shortcut

When we had to backtrack to Patcher's Place since we needed that card to pass through the Konpa Gate, Karis wasn't very happy with Tyrell's suggested shortcut.

"You want us to ride on one of THOSE metal deathtraps just to save time?"

…Actually, come to think of it, she seemed really irritated and on edge about the entire thing.

"Aw, come on, Karis! It's way faster than going on foot, and besides, this one seems a heck of a lot more sturdy than the other ones!" Tyrell's attempts to placate our group's Jupiter Adept were going nowhere fast.

"I'd much prefer walking than facing death by collapsing gondola! And how exactly do you think we'll be getting it moving, anyway? Pushing it along and hope that it doesn't stop halfway?"

"Well, since we have two Mars djinn, we have two people who can use Fireball Psynergy, so we can fire the gondola up that way... And if you're still worried about it, either I'll go first or Tyrell will." And with that, Karis finally backed down from her complaints, though she still seemed somewhat worried. Tyrell just looked at me with a mix between being grateful for me supporting his idea and annoyance that I succeeded where he could not.

"Yeah, Karis! It'll be fine, I'll even go first just to show you!" Tyrell actually chirped. He then proceeded to jump onto the gondola and summon up a fireball.

"Tyrell, aren't you going to check that it's—"

"WOOOHOOO!" And the gondola fired up and took off, Tyrell whooping with delight at the ride.

"—safe…" Karis and I just stood there, watching as Tyrell rode off on the gondola. After Tyrell got too far away for us to see him, Karis seemed to become less annoyed and more nervous. With every second we spent waiting for Tyrell to send the gondola back, the more nervous she got.

"…couldn't I just walk back?" Karis seemed uncharacteristically unconfident about this new turn of events.

"Karis, we've already agreed to do this, and it wouldn't be safe to let you head out alone. Besides, you know it's safer to travel in groups than alone!" My words of reason didn't seem to be as effective at convincing her as they were earlier. Just then, the gondola arrived, coming to a smooth stop and being ready to go again.

"Couldn't you just come with me instead of sending me out on my own?" Karis tried to reason with me, desperation apparently forcing the usual social conventions on the backburner.

At that moment, my usual ailment that Tyrell so helpfully described as "that Earth Adept thing of being really quiet a lot" took effect. The mental images of what Karis just asked me to do…be gone, you evil mental images! AWAY WITH YOU AND YOUR LACK OF REALIZATION THAT KARIS IS MY SISTER IN ALL BUT BLOOD!

Since I was understandably distracted by those evil images stuck in my brain, I'm not exactly sure how I managed to tie her to the gondola chair without her electrocuting me and then sending the gondola on its way without having Karis be extra crispy…and for some inexplicable reason I don't think that she'd be willing to answer…

Once I got to the other side, Tyrell was still apparently trying to wake her up. Luckily for me and my ears, Karis was still out cold.

"Why'd you tie her to the gondola, Matthew? Why was she knocked out in the first place?" Tyrell was many things, but I was particularly grateful at that moment for his overall obliviousness.

"I'll tell you later. Let's just get back to Patcher's Place, okay?" His short attention span was another trait of his that I was quite fond of.

"Uh…okay, whatever you say, Matthew…" With that, he slung Karis' unconscious body onto his back like a human-shaped backpack and followed me back to Patcher's Place.

**-.-.-.-.-**

It was when we arrived at Patcher's Place that Karis finally woke up.

"…urgh…wha happened…?" She seemed rather disoriented, giving me a chance to fabricate an elaborate tale of epic proportions that would enrapture the youth of all of Weyard for years to come.

"One of those Ape monsters appeared and hit you in the head, so I had to kill it. Since you were still out of it when I healed you, I secured you the gondola to make sure you got to the other side without falling off. We walked back to Patcher's Place with Tyrell carrying you, and then you woke up."

…Alright, so it's not that great of an excuse, but it works!

"But Matt, she di—OW! THAT WAS MY FOOT, KARIS!" Tyrell unwittingly attempted to send me into cardiac arrest when Karis managed to dislodge herself from our redheaded friend and landed atop his feet. While I'm not particularly certain as to how she managed that when she started out from the position of being carried like a backpack, I was very grateful for the distraction provided as the two began to bicker. Another awkward moment avoided, thank goodness!

"Okay, you two, break it up, let's just go through the Psynergy Training Grounds for that card, alright? Since we've been told that story so many times, it shouldn't be too difficult."

Oh, how I'd eat those words…

**This is how I imagined how this scene would go, since silly me, first time I played the game I didn't understand why the Psynergy Grounds were important to traverse through...**

**Kindly review, even if it's to laugh at my blunder of epic proportions.**


	2. The Psynergy Training Grounds Fiasco

The Psynergy Training Grounds were divided into four areas for each of the four lighthouses: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Each one was dedicated to the path that our parents and the rest of the group followed leading up to the lighting of said lighthouses. In theory, we truly did have a nice grasp of what sort of challenges they faced while going through this ordeal. In theory, we knew generally what to expect when we went through those challenges. In theory, perfect plans are just that, perfect. There is a reason why the words 'in theory' can be substituted with the word 'hypothetically'.

-.-.-.-.-

The Mercury Lighthouse seemed so simple from afar…

"Tyrell."

"…Yes, Karis?"

"The targets that we're supposed to hit with Fireball Psynergy."

"…What about them?"

"You're supposed to hit them. Not the mechanism that controls whether or not the door opens."

"…Thank you, I had no idea about that, Karis."

"…That had better have been sarcasm, Tyrell."

After waiting for the people running the Psynergy Training Grounds to do damage control and repairs, we tried again.

"Matthew…"

"Yes?"

"Next time you try and climb a tree, please don't slip and fall off."

"Agreed, I'll do that."

"And avoid breaking any limbs."

"That too."

"That includes the limbs of other people too."

"…That too."

"Hey you guys? Little help with some healing Psynergy please?"

"…Sure thing Tyrell. Um…thanks for uh, breaking my fall, Tyrell."

"Thank me by healing me, please."

The next day after Tyrell slept off the entire broken limb thing (Thank you, Cure!) we went for the third try. After all, third try's a charm, right?

"…Hey, Matt?"

"…"

"Matthew, are you afraid of heights or something?"

"Shut up, Tyrell. And no I'm not!"

"So what was with the screaming and windmill-ing thing?"

"…I was just surprised, Karis."

"Alright then, so if that was just 'surprise', what was the death grip on my waist for afterwards?"

"…Shut up, Tyrell."

Unfortunately, we all needed to reach the top of the 'lighthouse', so we had to try one more time.

"Look, Matthew, once we're all the way up, we jump to the lighthouse, okay? See, Tyrell made it and he's fine up there! RIGHT, TYRELL?"

"YEP! IT'LL BE FINE, MATT! AND IF YOU SLIP OR SOMETHING, I'LL CATCH YOU!"

"…Could you let go of my hand, please? Or at least loosen your grip or something?"

At this point, Karis was kind enough to tackle hug me right into the little geyser of water. I naturally kept my cool at being held both platonically (IT HAD BETTER HAVE BEEN PLATONIC!) and standing on top of the little geyser of water.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Alright, so maybe I was a little unnerved. …Just a tad… Oh fine, I was having a panic attack, happy now!

"Matthew, stop squirming! Tyrell, catch!"

She shoves me towards the platform. Tyrell swoops in and grabs me and yanks me onto the platform…unfortunately for me, the geyser had started to go down mid shove, and a part of my body hit the edge of the platform that I really, really wish it didn't.

"Uh…sorry, Matt? You okay?"

"…"

"Are you whimpering?"

"…"

"…Karis, what—"

"Just throw the fireball, Tyrell."

**-.-.-.-.-**

Thankfully, we'd finally completed the Mercury Lighthouse area…and we got to have a break before starting the Venus Lighthouse area.

As for completing this area, well…

"Maybe this combination for the tracks will get us across!"

"Hey, Karis? Are you alright? You look a little gre—"

"BLERGH!"

"…I didn't know you got motion sickness, Karis."

"Ew…and it's all over the tracks…what did you have for lunch, Karis, because whatever it was, I definitely don't want to order it."

"…Yuck…that was…disgusting."

"Um, Karis? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but could you—"

"No way…I'm too nauseous for using Whirlwind right now…"

"…"

"…Hey, Matt? Can you use—"

"Nope."

"Darn, me neither. You'd think having a Jupiter Djinni set to you'd let you use Whirlwind, huh?"

Attempt number two was a little smoother; since we knew which tracks should be changed we only had to make one trip. The Kraken part, however…

"Um, Tyrell? I can—"

"No way, I'm the Mars Adept here! I can do it!"

"But Tyrell, you haven't even hit one yet."

"They're really fast, alright?"

"…You just ran out of Psynergy, didn't you."

"…No I didn't!"

"Then why are you pacing?"

"…Um, I feel like it?"

"…Hey Matthew, how much time do we have left?"

"…Fifteen seconds."

"…Should we tell him?"

"No need."

"ARGH! STUPID TARGETS! STUPID TIMER!"

After Karis 'suggested' (read: demanded and swapped Gust and Chill for Forge and Fever and gave me Forge) that I throw the fireballs, we went for a third try.

"Wow, this part's really weird!"

"It's just a jumping maze, just follow us, okay, Mr. No-Sense-Of-Direction?"

"Hey! I'm not that bad!"

"Um, Karis? Tyrell? The time limit?"

"Right. Lead the way, Matthew."

"…Um, Karis?"

"Yes?"

"…I have no sense of direction, too."

"…Hopeless. Alright, I'll lead."

After a lot of jumping, we reached the bottom of the platform.

"Hey, where're the stairs!"

"Wow, I actually agree, Tyrell, how are we supposed to get up there?"

Before I could say anything about the little plant dancing in the sunlight, Karis and Tyrell started searching the entire little island.

"Oh, great, there's no way up!"

"Did they forget to fix this part or something?"

Before they could have us run out of time, I decided to step in.

"Hey Matt, what are you—"

"Growth!"

"…Oh."

So we climbed up. As per our agreement for moving targets, I took out the crudely drawn boards. Thankfully, Tyrell was too busy being embarrassed about not even noticing the dancing plant to try and fight me on it. Karis was fairly quiet as well.

-.-.-.-.-

So, after another break, we went forward to the Jupiter Lighthouse area to make our attempt at somewhat following in our parents' (well, my uncle and mother's group's) footsteps.

Again.

"Why won't this darn thing's tongue just stick out already!"

"You just broke the mechanism that does that, Tyrell."

And again.

"I am in no mood for throwing up again! I'm waiting right here!"

"Oh, come on, Karis, this is kind of fun! They just go around and around and around on their little water tracks and—hey, Matthew, you can't wait with Karis! I can't use Move Psynergy!"

"…Fine."

"…Matthew, we're supposed to jump on to the little platforms to get across, not swim. …Matt, stop flailing and just get to the dock! Oh great, the Earth Adept sink-like-a-stone-in-the-water thing…"

…Have I mentioned that I might have inherited my uncle's fear of water? Oh, and again.

"And a one, two, three, JUMP!"

"…(whimper)…"

"And a one, two, three, JUMP!"

"…(meep)…"

"And a one, two, three, JUMP! Alright! First one! Do your thing, Matt!"

"…Move."

"Alright, one down, two to go! Come on, Matt, a one, two, three, JUMP!"

And, you get the point, right? For the platform, after I Fireball the heck out of the Poseidon cut-out like I did the Kraken (only a little more intense, since, um, I wanted to…make sure that they were hit, yeah! Nope, no need to vent any nerves over the water, thing, not at all! …Okay, maybe a little.) we had quite the time with the windmill portion.

"Ow, get offa me, you jerks!"

"Not the face, please not the face!"

"Ouch."

Especially once we realized we couldn't all go at once.

"Ooh, wow, I'm dizzy…"

"…Agreed, Tyrell…"

"Oh, hush you two! Matthew, if you would?"

"Fireball! …Fireball!"

"Great, we're done. Now let's get dow—TYRELL, CAREFUL!"

**-.-.-.-.-**

After Karis got Tyrell to collapse _on_ the platform instead of _off the side_ of the platform, we took our break. Then we got started on tackling the Mars Lighthouse area. As for how well we did…

"HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT! THAT'S HOT!"

"THAT'S WHY MATTHEW WAS USING MOVE ON THAT PILLAR, YOU HOTHEAD!"

"BAD PUN, AND STILL ON FIRE HERE!"

"Alright, Tyrell, I'll give you a hand then."

"ANYTIME KARIS—WAAAH!"

This is the cue for the splash as Karis shoves Tyrell into the little stream below to put out the flames.

And attempt number two…

"Umph…my butt…"

"…we did try to get to you hurry up that vine before the flamethrower killed it, Tyrell."

"Well, there goes finishing this area off on the second try…"

And attempt number three…well, let's just say we weren't prepared for what happens after we threw Fireballs at the cutouts…

"Ow…did we seriously just get our butts handed to us by a—"

"—wooden contraption lovingly named the Dim Dragon? Yes, yes we did, Tyrell."

"Well that doesn't mean you have to be snippy about it, Karis."

"You knocked me out with your Djinn, Tyrell, I'm allowed to be snippy about it."

Thankfully, we managed to win against the Dim Dragon for attempt number four, mild contusion aside. Which is healing aggravatingly slowly, thus I'm contemplating the wait away by thinking about the annoyance caused by going through those blasted Psynergy Training Grounds. Oh well, at least we don't have to—

"Matt!" Tyrell yells my name about a hands-width away from my head. "How're you feeling? Ready to go yet?"

"…Almost, Tyrell. What is it?" I reply sardonically. What is he so excited about, anyway?

"Oh good, let's get going then!" Tyrell yells, oh so lovingly throwing me over his shoulder in a fireman's hold (come to think of it, a horrible pun, considering his element) before darting back outside to join Karis…right in front of the Psynergy Training Grounds entrance.

"Alright! Let's go get that second chest behind the Dim Dragon!" Tyrell and Karis yell, in perfect unison. I merely began to cry. Manly tears of course.

**This took a little longer than expected to write. And quite a bit longer than expected to proofread. If you spot any typos that I might have missed, do let me know, please?**


	3. Water the Flowering Venus Adept

"Oh come on, Matt! Don't you remember your dad telling us about how useful Water of Life is in a pinch? It was totally worth facing the Dim Dragon again!" Tyrell was cajoling me, on and on, trying to gain my forgiveness. Not happening.

"No number of placating words will convince me to forgive you, Tyrell." I reply in the best deadpan tone that I could manage with a nasty black eye and a very painful jowl on my face. "Now let's just get back to that blasted Konpa gate already and meet up with Kraden already."

"…There wasn't any need to snap at me, Matt…" Tyrell pouted, actually POUTED at me. Words escaped how irritated that simple phrase made me. Instead of replying, however, I focused my newly found frustration on yet another monster attack.

"Heads up you two, back up!" We hear Karis exclaim. Tyrell, with the finesse and subtle tendencies of a cobblestone pitched through someone's newly broken window with a banner reading "I DON'T LIKE YOU!" trailing behind it, didn't pick up on the obvious that Karis was about to use an area effect Psynergy. I however did, so I attempted to get the both of us out of the way. It didn't work very well on my part.

"Aw, man, I was hoping that we could save this stuff for a real emergency…" This was the first thing I heard after I regained consciousness.

"For the last time, Tyrell, we're already really late meeting up with Kraden! We really don't need to backtrack to Carver's Camp, spend even more of our scarce funds on the healer's fee to call Matthew's spirit back into his body, and then set out again! This is the sort of situation that stuff is FOR, Tyrell! Or do we need to wait for the boss ape to come and kill us where we stand before using a Water of Life becomes a viable option!" Karis' voice really lay into Tyrell…oddly enough it's very close and seems to be coming slightly behind me…and…above…my…head…

"Whoa, Matt, calm down! Those apes are defeated, no need to go on the offense!" Tyrell's voice tries to reason with me, as though he doesn't realize that I AM IN A NON-PLATONIC POSITION WITH KARIS! Heck, when did she get—WHAT AM I THINKING! BAD THOUGHTS, BAD THOUGHTS!

The world is that strange combination of too bright yet too blurry when I manage to finally open my eyes when I'm standing on my feet again, indicative of being knocked unconscious via a blow to the head. That really doesn't matter, however, since I'm off of Karis' lap entirely. The crisis is averted…what? Why do I get the sensation that I'm being laughed at from afar…?

"Alright, I'm up! Let's go!" Well, since I've been elected leader of our little quest for the feather of the Mountain Roc, I might as well get the pace set to meet up with Kraden! With this thought in mind, I stride as confidently as I could onwards.

"Um, Matt? The Konpa Gate's in the opposite direction…"

"…I knew that."

-.-.-.-.-

"Alright, go right ahead! The Konpa Ruins are just northeast of here!" The old man in charge of the gateway calls to us cheerfully as he waves us in.

As we pass through, though, I pause.

"What's up, Matt?" Tyrell asks when he realizes that he's left me behind, slightly. I shake my head, though I could have sworn I heard something…

"It's nothing, Tyrell. Let's just get going…" I start walking, when in the back of my mind I suddenly hear a little voice, whispering to me, ever so gently…

_WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, MATTHEW! FLOWER IS UP ON THAT LEDGE, SHE CAN HELP!_

Flint is quite loud when he thinks I'm making a mistake, apparently. I glance up, and lo and behold, a Venus Djinni is peaking shyly over the edge at me, before ducking away and giggling to herself.

"Just a sec, you two, I'll be right back." I tell Tyrell and Karis when they look at me oddly. They continue to look at me in confusion as I climb the stairs up towards the gatekeeper's cottage. When I entered the little field of flowers, the Venus Djinni spotted me, then decided to play an impromptu game of hide and seek. Naturally, it didn't take me too long to decide on what to do…though I checked inside the cabin to make sure the gatekeeper stayed asleep while I had Karis help me destroy his flowers.

When we finally found Flower, she decided to make her displeasure of the destruction of her namesakes known in a very decisive way. Did you know that Djinn have very sharp teeth? I wish I was still unaware of that fact…in any case, I felt like having the ability to cast fireballs, so I traded Flower for Forge with Tyrell.

And with that quick swap (complete with a farewell chomp courtesy of Flower) we set off to try and find Kraden in the Konpa Ruins.

**Short? Yes. However, I felt like having all of the Konpa Ruins mishaps in one chapter, thus I cut it off here.**


End file.
